Freshers
by shallwedance
Summary: It's the beginning of Uni, we've got our player Edward and our keep-it-casual Bella so surely they'll just do their thing and leave it be. As notches on the bed post go, though, this one may be too big to get over... ExBxNo Strings Attached Fun?


_Hey, new story and all so..._

_Disclaimer - I don't own Twilight._

_And enjoy :) If you you could leave a review to tell me how much that would be great ;) _

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Freshers - Prologue

It was the early part of mid-September and the leaves on the trees had begun to take on a deeper colour, just on the cusp of turning their glossy red shade, when I finally slammed the boot-lid closed on the assortment of suitcases in my trunk the last of which was held by duct-tape to prevent the zip pulling apart from the strain. Renee was stood by the hood of her car with the keys clutched in her hand as she stood shifting her weight from side to side in the brisk chill; Charlie was in the driving seat of my car enjoying the luxury of air con. With a last look around at my childhood home I turned towards her and was almost immediately smothered as she grabbed me with enough force to knock the breath out of me. She eased off an infinitesimal amount as I had let her know how difficult breathing had become with her hugging my windpipe, but she still clutched me to her. It was a much bigger deal my going away to uni for her than for me, something made evident as she slowly pulled away, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her jumper.

With a promise to ring as often as I could and a promise to make plans to go out with her sometime, I managed to coax her into her tank of a car and waved her off as she went around the corner and out of sight before making my way to the passenger side – Charlie had insisted he drive – of my car; I was staying at a campus uni and, to save on the costs of keeping a car parked in the city, he'd drive it back for me.

"I think she took that rather well."

"Yes, but just try to keep my telephone number from her for as long as possible, she'll never stop calling once she finds that out".

We both grimaced and, with that, set off in comfortable silence.

-oOo-

It hadn't been too long, just a couple of hours, before the signs to the city started appearing at the sides of the road; I felt Charlie become more restless as his time to say whatever was on his mind began to run out. He was silent until we reached the halls of residence, made small talk as we unpacked my suitcases and took them to my room before letting his eyes dart nervously around our surroundings as it became time for him to get back in the car.

"Dad? Love you," I said, looking at the floor, endearments coming as easily to me as they did him, "Ring me as soon as you get home?" I looked up at him and received my second choking hug of the day, this time it was one I reciprocated in kind as I really was going to miss this man.

"Love you too Bells, course I'll ring," he said, pulling a creased tissue from his pocket and dabbing his eyes. But as he sniffed once and straightened up to his full height he took a more business-like tone, "now please, I know how Fresher's Week can get," – I rolled my eyes – "this is serious, please be careful". With another promise I was unlikely to fulfil quite as expected I waved my father off as he made his way back home, turning back to my halls of residence.

I saw other students my age milling about to and fro from the car park, laden with bags and bedding as they all began to make their cell-like rooms more personal and homely. I made my way up to my floor and knocked on the door next to mine, hoping that Angela would already be there.

True enough the door opened and Angela, towering over me in her 5 inch heels pulled me in.

"God Ange you look stunning," I said as she sat me down on a swivel chair in front of a large mirror. She'd taken your average LBD and cut a good few inches off the bottom so I could almost see the bottom of her toned arse-cheeks and shredded the back so you could see a lack of bra-straps there. In the mirror I could see two equally beautiful girls on her bed. The one who I'd seen bouncing on her folded legs on the bed shot up and over to me, make-up bag in hand; I could see that even with her plat-formed heels on she must be a good deal shorter than me. The other was sat with her legs elegantly crossed at the ankles making her legs look about a million miles long as she painted her nails a deep crimson to match her playsuit. I looked at myself in the mirror with my tangled hair and baggy jeans with a look of panic: there was not nearly enough time to look as good as these girls.

"You're Bella right?" the short one asked as she took my forearm, spun around with my back to the mirror and started matching it to an assortment of palettes: foundation, blusher, eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara… she seemed to have an entire department store make-up counter with her.

"This is Alice, and that's Rosalie," Angela explained, "they live on the other side of you," and to the other two she introduced me, "Remember I told you about Bella?" They nodded and I could only hope they'd heard good things.

"Rose can you nip next door and grab… which suitcase is your stuff in?" Alice asked.

"The one with duct-tape round it," I said and Rosalie got up almost silently. We watched her go.

"Don't worry, she's not always like this just Emmett wanted to get ready straight away with the guys," Alice explained as she started teasing the knots from my hair. I assumed I'd find out who Emmett was soon enough. "Bella can you be putting the third foundation from the left on please." The authority in her voice had me doing as she said immediately just as Rosalie dragged the case through the door.

"Jesus what the hell have you got in here, bricks?"

"No, sorry, I had to sneak my going-out clothes in wherever I could so all my suitcases are far too full, Charlie isn't too keen on me going out after last time," I said with a pointed look in Angela's direction. She just grinned at me and threw a wink in for extra effect.

"Well that's a story we'll have to be hearing," Rosalie said from behind me as she began unravelling the tape around my suitcase. From the top she picked out an electric blue jumpsuit and some gold heels, laying them out over my bed as, finishing with my hair which was tied up with some at the front falling around my face, Alice attacked me with all the blue and gold coloured make up she could find. Before long I was spun around to face the mirror and, I have to admit, I scrubbed up pretty well. Alice had managed to turn the frizzy mess that was my hair into a loose top knot with a few curls here and there escaping to frame my face. She'd managed to, somehow, make my eyes look massive – who knew make up could do such a thing – and the pale gloss on my lips meant you were drawn to my eyes. This sprite knew what she was doing with a make-up brush.

Seeing as it was still quite light outside I cracked open my hidden bottle of vodka along with my shot glasses and poured everyone a generous measure. Conversation flowed more freely as the evening air took on a gloomy look and the lights outside flickered into life. As the warm buzz seeped from my stomach to my head I heard shrieks of laughter from outside and doors slamming, the clack of heels as girls ran from room to room and the sense of anticipation grew as it came time to leave.

Fresher's week had begun.

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_So, what d'you reckon? As ever, reviews would be awesome and really do make writing another chapter so much easier - if you want another chapter that is - so please review!_

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